NYC Grindr Date Turns into Assault, Robbery

Be careful out there; hookups arranged using Grindr and other apps can be dangerous, and not just because of the COVID-19 epidemic. A recent assault and robbery in which a young man was pistol-whipped in a hotel room by someone he met using Grindr is only a recent example.

The pistol-whipping took place at a hotel in New York City's midtown, reports the New York Post. The victim, a 33-year-old man, was also robbed of $1,000 as well as his phone and a tablet device.

The attack fits a grim, and familiar, profile: A gay man using a dating app arranges to meet with someone, but then is attacked - sometimes by a number of perpetrators. Last year, a gang of four men using Grindr to lure their victims were convicted of numerous crimes, including violations of federal hate crimes statutes.

According to the United States Department of Justice, the four perpetrators would use Grindr to contact gay men and induce them into divulging their addresses. The gang would then show up at the victim's homes, restrain and assault them, and steal their belongings - all while hurling anti-gay slurs at them.

Late last year, two men in Dallas pled guilty to similar crimes, again perpetrated through the use of deceptive Grindr. The two men reportedly lured gay men and then held them against their will, forcing them to withdraw and then surrender cash, and subjecting them to other, unspecified hate crimes.

In one of the most horrific instances of a predator using a dating app to lure a victim, a 50-year-old man in Michigan was arrested for the murder of a 25-year-old university student whom he lured and killed last Christmas Eve, before eating parts of the victim's body.

The misuse of dating apps to draw out and then entrap and brutalize gay men has taken place in political contexts, as well. A 2019 report in UK newspaper the Independent traced the history of such anti-LGBTQ attacks in Russia and Chechnya and noting that such attacks just after Russia's 2013 "no homo promo" law was enacted were carried out for "ideological" reasons.

In the years since, however, the ideological component to such attacks has faded; contemporary perpetrators are motivated more by financial incentive, the Independent noted. Because of Russia's official stance toward non-heterosexuals, police there are of little help to the victims, and prosecutions – which are rare – focus on factors other than anti-LGBTQ animus. In such a climate, gay men are easy pickings for blackmail, and gangs routinely set them up with falsified dating app profiles that indicate a potential hookup partner is older than he actually is; that, in turn, sets victims up for charges of pedophilia unless they agree to pay the blackmail.

Men's Health addressed the issue of perpetrators using dating apps to lure victims, publishing a list of safety tips last year that include obtaining a photo and a phone number before agreeing to meet; chatting beforehand using FaceTime; discussing preferences around sexual activity before meeting in person; letting a friend know where and when the meeting is set to occur; and cutting a date short, or not even showing up to meet, if something feels off.